And that’s a wrap! I can’t believe the day is here and that this is really what the guest bedroom looks like now. I keep standing in this room and staring like “is this even real??” When we started the One Room Challenge the walls were super textured blue, the floors were sad gray, and there was a creepy old closet that didn’t even have flooring in it. In the past 8 weeks we gutted the closet, rebuilt it, added new floors, smoothed the walls, painted, and decorated. It was so much work and put my body through the ringer but I’m so happy we did it!

BEFORE + AFTER

THE PROCESS

This little room took us on quite a journey these past 8 weeks! We started skim coating the entire room, removed the baseboards, painted the walls, installed flooring, and demoed the closet off the bat. When we started chipping away at the closet demo and rebuild it was a lengthy process that we had to do bits of each week. In between we started to put together the decor and built the side tables. Here’s what the process looked like…

THE FINAL REVEAL

I can’t believe how much it turned out like my vision! Truly amazed that my moodboard came to life. Remember the plan I talked about here? Now I can’t wait to enjoy this space and take a breather for a second.

SHOP THE LOOK

fringe basket / white vase / hat / abstract vase / pendant light / bedding

Follow me on Instagram @erikacarlock to see more of my house come together!

Don’t miss out! Catch up on my other One Room Challenge Posts:

One Room Challenge: Week One | Guest Bedroom Makeover Plan

One Room Challenge: Week Two | Making a Blank Canvas

One Room Challenge: Week Three | New Flooring

One Room Challenge: Week Four | DIY Limewash Wall

One Room Challenge: Week Five | DIY Travertine Bedside Table

One Room Challenge: Week Six | Decor Details

One Room Challenge: Week Seven | Built-in Closet

One Room Challenge: Week Eight | Guest Bedroom Reveal

The post Guest Bedroom Makeover – Final Reveal! (One Room Challenge: Week Eight) appeared first on Erika Carlock Blog.

HELLO CLOSET! I’m thrilled that we finished this closet build for week seven of the One Room Challenge. We’ve been chipping away at this project for the past 7 weeks and it feels so good to see the vision come to life. I’m honestly still in awe of the fact that we designed and built this entire closet build ourselves.

BEFORE + AFTER

THE PROCESS

We’ve been chipping away at the closet the whole time we’ve been working on the rest of the guest bedroom and the closet was one HUGE project to complete among everything else. We stated off with demo last month which ended up taking two full days of the weekend to complete. Then, some of the drywall had to be patched from ripping it out.

Once we patched the closet we were able to start planning the vision for the space. I knew I wanted a few shelves and a place for clothes. We opted to do half of the closet with a clothes rod to hang clothes and half for storage. Then we decided to do a large storage box along the top to keep extra bedding and pillows.

We got started with cutting the wood and framed the closet, then we were able to start cutting drywall. After cutting a zillion pieces of drywall and attaching them to the wood frame I got started plastering the drywall with joint compound. It was SO much work and my arms and shoulders are sore in every way imaginable but it was so worth it. I love how it turned out and couldn’t wait to start styling the shelves.

Stay tuned for the finale next week! This is my favorite room renovation so far and I can’t wait to share the final product. This room looks SO different than it did 7 weeks ago!

SHOP THE CLOSET

fringe basket / white vase / hat / abstract vase / pendant light / bedding

Follow me on Instagram @erikacarlock to see more of my house come together!

Don’t miss out! Catch up on my other One Room Challenge Posts:

One Room Challenge: Week One | Guest Bedroom Makeover Plan

One Room Challenge: Week Two | Making a Blank Canvas

One Room Challenge: Week Three | New Flooring

One Room Challenge: Week Four | DIY Limewash Wall

One Room Challenge: Week Five | DIY Travertine Bedside Table

One Room Challenge: Week Six | Decor Details

The post Our Guest Bedroom Makeover – Closet Makeover (One Room Challenge: Week Seven) appeared first on Erika Carlock Blog.

Things are coming together in the guest bedroom makeover I’m remodeling for the One Room Challenge! This week lots of decor details have come together in the space and it’s starting to fill out. We added a new rug, hung curtains, some bedding, and this cute raffia palm leaf wall hanging to the space. It’s starting to feel like a real room now!

SHOP THE LOOK

rug

Stay tuned next week for the closet reveal! I’m working on a built in closet with plaster niches and I’m crossing my fingers I can finish be next week. Cannot wait for the final view but for now I’m back to cutting a zillion pieces of drywall for it… see you next week. xoxo Erika

Follow me on Instagram @erikacarlock to see more of my house come together!

Don’t miss out! Catch up on my other One Room Challenge Posts:

One Room Challenge: Week One | Guest Bedroom Makeover Plan

One Room Challenge: Week Two | Making a Blank Canvas

One Room Challenge: Week Three | New Flooring

One Room Challenge: Week Four | DIY Limewash

One Room Challenge: Week Five | DIY Travertine Table

The post Our Guest Bedroom Makeover – Decor Details (One Room Challenge: Week Six) appeared first on Erika Carlock Blog.

We spent this past weekend of the One Room Challenge working on the closet built-out and building these travertine side tables. This has to be the easiest DIY ever! I headed to Floor and Decor and picked out tiles to build the table. They were only $50 for enough to make 2 side tables!

What You’ll Need:

• travertine tiles (3 per table – available at Floor and Decor)
• liquid nails

Here’s how I did it:

• mark the center line where the tile will be placed
• apply liqud nails to the marked line
• set the first tile down the middle of the other tile and hold it in place with something to keep it upright
• let it cure for 24 hours
• mark the line to attach the top piece to the 2 already connect tiles
• apply liquid nails to the lines
• set the tile on top of the liqud nails
• let the tile set and cure for 24 hours before picking up the table

I love how it turned out! Such a simple DIY that turned out gorgeous.

Follow me on Instagram @erikacarlock to see more of my house come together!

Don’t miss out! Catch up on my other One Room Challenge Posts:

One Room Challenge: Week One | Guest Bedroom Makeover Plan

One Room Challenge: Week Two | Making a Blank Canvas

One Room Challenge: Week Three | New Flooring

One Room Challenge: Week Four | DIY Limewash

One Room Challenge: Week Five | DIY Travertine Table

The post Our Guest Bedroom Makeover – DIY Travertine Side Table (One Room Challenge: Week Five) appeared first on Erika Carlock Blog.

It’s week 4 of the One Room Challenge and after painting the bedroom walls in a light warm white (Swiss Coffee by Behr) and doing lots of demo work I felt like I wanted to do take a break from the boring parts and add something pretty to the space. On a whim I ended up doing a last-minute DIY limewash to the space!

Here’s how I did it:

• get two similar paint colors in different shades
• pour them into two paint containers or split one with tape to get both colors next to each other 
• dip a wide paint brush into both colors at once 
• brush the paint on in a crisscross shape making X’s along the wall
• do a second coat on any patchy areas or the entire wall

Follow me on Instagram @erikacarlock to see more of my house come together!

One Room Challenge: Week One | Guest Bedroom Makeover Plan

One Room Challenge: Week Two | Making a Blank Canvas

One Room Challenge: Week Three | New Flooring

One Room Challenge: Week Four | DIY Limewash

One Room Challenge: Week Five | DIY Travertine Table

The post Our Guest Bedroom Makeover – DIY Limewash (One Room Challenge: Week Four) appeared first on Erika Carlock Blog.

We’ve got new floors! I can’t believe the gray is finally no more. We’re finally starting to see some real progress and if feels so good. My knees are sore as heck though! Here’s a look at the before…

THE BEFORE

When we first moved in there were brand new gray plank floors and I absolutely hated them, but felt guilty to get rid of something brand new. For the first bedroom with the same floors we decided to paint them white, but I don’t love how they’ve held up so we decided new flooring would be the best option. The gray floors made everything feel so dark and sad, but once we got the new floors in I felt an instant mood lift!

I’d never installed luxury vinyl plank flooring before, but it It was really simple to install because you basically click it in and it locks into place. The hard part was making sure the pieces were staggered and didn’t look to “lined up”, and getting the cuts on the closet corners right. It took about two full days to finish over the weekend, and we were sore pretty much everywhere afterwards. It was so worth it to see this space look so peaceful now though!

We went with this Malibu Wide Plank French Oak in the color Dana Point. I love the look of the wide plank and how neutral and Scandinavian the color feels. The natural light in the room feels even better now and I’m so excited to get this room together. Next we’ve got to install base boards, start the closet build-out, build bedside tables, and a headboard. Stay tuned for the next updates!

Follow me on Instagram @erikacarlock to see more of my house come together!

Don’t miss out! Catch up on my other One Room Challenge Posts:

One Room Challenge: Week One | Guest Bedroom Makeover Plan

One Room Challenge: Week Two | Making a Blank Canvas

One Room Challenge: Week Three | New Flooring

The post Our Guest Bedroom Makeover – New Floors (One Room Challenge: Week Three) appeared first on Erika Carlock Blog.

It’s week two of the One Room Challenge and I’m in the initial phase of the guest bedroom design. I’m currently deciding on flooring samples and here’s a sneak peek at the options. Other than that we’re not to the fun and pretty things yet and I’m knee-deep in the yucky things like skim coating and painting. So far, I’ve got the walls smoothed out, painted a light creamy white, and we took out the old boob light in the room.

We Have Smooth Walls!

When we first bought the house there were a lot of textured walls. Since the house was built in the 1950’s the texture is pretty intense. I’ve skim coated pretty much the entire house by now with joint compound to get a smooth plaster finish. This week it was time to finally skim coat the worst textured room in the house AKA the guest bedroom. It was ROUGH and took so many layers of joint compound. I taped cracks, layered on the joint compound and finally the room is feeling much more peaceful with smooth walls.

And Freshly Painted Walls

After letting the skim coat dry I was able to paint. Since things are very neutral for this room I used Swiss Coffee by Behr for the walls. I love how warm this white is. I used this Graco Magnum X5 paint sprayer for the entire room and it’s great to finally have a blank canvas. I still want to squeeze in a bit of lime wash on one wall if I can find the time during these 8 weeks. We shall see!

SHOP THE POST

I love the way the paint turned out, and it feels so much better in here already. Progress is being made slowly! As a reminder, here’s the inspo for the space. Stay tuned for the next few weeks. Next up is new flooring, gutting the closet, and starting to get this room together. Can’t wait to make more progress.

Follow me on Instagram @erikacarlock to see more of my house come together!

Don’t miss out! Catch up on my other One Room Challenge Posts:

One Room Challenge: Week One | Guest Bedroom Makeover Plan

One Room Challenge: Week Two | Making a Blank Canvas

One Room Challenge: Week Three | New Flooring

The post Our Guest Bedroom Makeover Skim Coat + Paint (One Room Challenge: Week Two) appeared first on Erika Carlock Blog.

The One Room Challenge is back for another season and I loved how my project last spring turned out, so I decided to join it again for the Fall ’23 One Room Challenge! For those of you who don’t know what it is, it’s basically a big challenge where participants can share their room transformations. It’s a fun way that everyone can share a design project and hopefully help inspire others along the way.

Bedroom Before

The bedroom was renovated one of the worst rooms in the house when we bought it and needed some major updates. The walls were the most intensely textured blue walls, the closet was old and creepy, and the gray laminate flooring they had just added to it wasn’t even finished to the closet so there was this weird drop off to the subfloor. TBH this room creeped me out to be in!

The Plan

I want it to feel like a neutral earth-toned sanctuary. One of the rules I’ve been using while designing the house is that everything be a natural desert color so I’m making this room very neutral and zen. Pretty much a place that you arrive in and feel immediately relaxed and with nature. I made this mood board on Pinterest for how I want the space to feel. Think lots of neutrals and natural textures. Linen, jute, straw, and plaster will be some of the main materials. Since we just got a new roof and still need to renovate the kitchen Im trying to keep this room on a very tight budget. Some of the project I’m planning are DIY travertine bedside tables, a DIY slat headboard, a full built-in closet and installing the laminate wood flooring ourselves. Whew! We’ve got our work cut out for ourselves.

The Color Palette

I want to keep this space super neutral so I’m going with linen bedding, natural tones, and muted basics. Most of the colors I’m planning are light beige, natural woods, and white plaster details in the closet buildout. For the wall color I’m thinking a light off-white.

I can’t wait to get started on this project and finally have a nice guest room that friends can stay in! Stay turned for lots of fun DIY projects and budget-friendly bedroom updates. Can’t wait to share!

Follow me on Instagram @erikacarlock to see more of the project come together!

The post Our Guest Bedroom Makeover Inspiration (One Room Challenge: Week One) appeared first on Erika Carlock Blog.

Summer is in full swing and I thought I’d share my summer yard refresh where we’ve been spending each evening. Our cowboy pool is my favorite place to be all summer and we just added some new furniture to the space so it just got even better. Last year I filled out the space along the fence with lots of native cacti and local plants and they’re slowly but surely getting bigger. I added these string lights and it makes the space glow in the evening light.

SHOP THE LOOK

The post Desert House Yard Refresh appeared first on Erika Carlock Blog.

Ever since I finished the DIY roman clay walls in the bathroom I’ve been wanting to play around with another roman clay wall at Coyote Casa Blanca. This time I wanted to be a bit more bold and go for a fun color with an accent wall. I ended up doing a deep Moroccan-inspired pink accent wall in the bedroom and I’m loving how it turned out. The texture adds so much dimension to the space and really makes the bed pop. Here’s a quick look at the process.

To get that beautiful Roman plaster look I mixed a bucket of joint compound here and a gallon of eggshell paint and primer in the color Shiny Kettle by Behr. I knew from skim coating the rooms in the house that I wanted a pancake-like consistency for the joint compound. So I filled a bucket with roughly 2/3 parts of joint compound blended with water to the right consistency, and then poured 1/3 parts of the paint color to it then blended with my mixer on my drill. I’d highly recommend you get a giant bucket and mix the paint and joint compound entirely for your project so that you get a consistent color. Mixing extra later can be really inconsistent!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

I followed a pretty simple recipe: 2/3 parts joint compound to 1/3 part paint. Mix it well with a drill paint mixer and apply to wall or surface with a scraper or palette knife.

Ingredients:

• paint color of your choice (I used ‘Shiny Kettle’ by Behr in eggshell)
• joint compound + water
• joint knife
• dropcloth
• bucket or mixing bowl (preferably with measurement lines)
• drill mud mixer attachment
• protective gear (gloves, mask, goggles)

Step 1: Combine the ingredients. Start by mixing together the joint compound and water to a smooth pancake-like finish. Use a drill mud mixer attachment to blend.

Step 2: Slowly 1/3 parts paint until the mixture has the consistency of thick pancake batter.

Step 3: Mix thoroughly to ensure that all of the mix is fully blended without clumps or bubbles.

Step 4: Apply the clay using a joint knife to spread the clay onto the surface you wish to cover. Smooth and shape it with varying strokes.

Step 5: Let it dry overnight. Once dry you can lightly sand it. If you want to can seal it you can buy sealant here.

BEFORE AND AFTER

I love how it turned out and am kind of obsessed with the idea of doing this all over my house! See more of the process on my Instagram and TikTok.

Want to see more renovation content? Follow me on Instagram and TikTok

The post DIY Roman Clay Wall appeared first on Erika Carlock Blog.